Saturday, September 9, 2017

The Problem with Only Answering to Yourself.

On my bike ride to the Royal Oak Market this morning I was thinking about my journey over the last 3 years. I remember the frustration of starting a new diet every Monday only to fail by Wednesday and beating myself up until the following Monday when I started another fad diet. I could never make it through the weekend without cheating. I blamed myself and my lack of discipline. I know now that hormones, stress and not taking care of myself properly were all a part of the failure. My lifestyle was not ideal and did not allow enough time for self-care and figuring out how to feed myself in all areas of my life: spiritually, career, relationships, joy, creativity.

I want to share one of my favorite motivational quotes with you. This is the first motivation that I share with clients:

“You must promise yourself you will finish what you start, no matter what. That vow, although it might be easy to break, is by far one of the most important ones to honor. You see, the very essence of confidence is self-trust. Would you trust anyone who repeatedly lied to you? Someone who broke the rules of the game, again and again? Of course, you wouldn’t. So, if you’ve developed a pattern of not honoring self-promises, this is a great time to make a change. If you can’t honor, trust and depend on your own word, well that may be the root of a lot of the challenges in your life.” Bill Phillips author of “Body For Life” (one of the first diets I went on!)

You may think that your health is hopeless or too far gone or you do not have the willpower or stamina to make sustainable changes. That is selling your self short. Every one, when they are able to get unstuck and remove the obstacles to health, can heal and find their sweet spot of optimal health. How?

Choosing good habits over bad ones

Choosing whole foods over processed ones

Choosing sleep over television

Choosing exercise/movement over sedentary activities

Choosing water over wine (sometimes)

Choosing cooking versus eating out

Choosing self love over self loathing

Making yourself a priority instead of filling your life with busy

Experimenting with new foods

Knowing what stresses you and minimizing it at all costs

Taking responsibility for where you are

Setting short term small goals that lead to your big health goal

Have a partner to share your journey so you are not just answering to yourself

If we are only answering to ourselves, we can cheat ourselves and be dishonest to ourselves and no one will know. This leads to another new diet on Monday. I am done with that. I hope you are too!